Young Writers Society

Was Mel feeling more and more guilty? Maybe. But she wasn't going to admit that. This was supposed to be a hilarious prank but leave it up to Nikolai to make her feel bad that now a bird wasn't going to shower him with love and affection as it gobbled up the bread.

He even sunk through the snow for it! And standing so tall! Gaaah.

"Maybe the little birdie doesn't eat bread," Mel said innocently, nearing her wit's end as she pressed her lips tightly together.

Nikolai lowered the piece of bread, disappointment on his face. “Maybe.” That was a let-down.

The bird’s behavior was a little odd, but he couldn’t figure out why. It hadn’t chirped or anything, and he hadn’t seen where it had come from. Mel had pointed and it was just there. Not only that, but Nikolai still couldn’t determine what type of bird it was, and he knew a lot of birds. Strange.

“Should I break it up into crumbs? Birds like that,” he said hopefully, already crumbling the chunk of bread without waiting for approval. Nikolai didn’t really want to leave the bird on its own and walk off now.

Mel nervously laughed. Now she just felt guilty. Nikolai seemed really disappointed that the bird wasn't real, but imagining his sad face looking at her in disappointment made her heart ache!

"Listen... Niko," she said slowly, wringing her hands and looking between him and the bird. She paused, wanting to just tell him it was an illusion, but found her mouth moving to say something else instead. "You really like birds, huh?"

Nikolai nodded. "Yeah, I do! It's kind of a family thing, I guess."

He knew Mel had seen the bird quilt, but there was a lot more bird-themed stuff to be found in his house. His notebook sketches were mostly of birds. Some old curtains kept in the closet had them too. And of course, plenty of paintings in storage that he hadn't looked at for years and might never again.

Nikolai's favorite out of those paintings had been the nightingale one. He didn't think it was the prettiest bird to look at, but something about that painting had felt different. While most of his mother's bird paintings had a daylight scene, the sky in that one had been twilight purple fading into midnight blue and scattered with ivory starlight. The bird was in a forest, perched on a tree's branch, looking out on a river's path as it left the woods and trailed through a field until it reached the horizon, disappearing where dusk touched the earth. And since his mother's gift had been to create motion with her paintings-- to make the river ripple, the branches and leaves sway in the wind, the clouds float by and change form-- it was like a piece of real life stored in a canvas. The only thing it was missing was sound, but sometimes when he'd seen it, Nikolai could almost hear the nightingale singing in his head.

But now the painting didn't move anymore. It was completely still, like any other artwork, and had been kept in a dark room like a secret for a long time now.

Nikolai blinked, realizing he'd spaced out. He hoped he hadn't seemed too distant, but he didn't know how long it had been for. It took him a moment to come back to his senses, and finally he shivered in the cold air, wrapping the fur blanket around himself a little tighter.

"Yeah," he said absently, looking back at Mel. "Birds are great."

While Nikolai had spaced out for a couple seconds there, Mel was nervous that she had accidentally broken the poor man's heart. Nikolai wasn't that sensitive, right? He wasn't actually sad that the bird wouldn't eat his bread? Who was she kidding. He was definitely sensitive. Ugh, she should have been more receptive to that. Maybe not do pranks related to animals anymore.

She couldn't take it. By the time he looked at her with a sad face of longing, she nervously laughed and beckoned for the bird to fly over to her and then disappear with an explosion of sparkles. Mel tried to smile, but it came out forced.

"Voilaaaa," she said weakly with her hands in front of her and her fingers dancing back and forth in the air as the illusionary sparkles slowly drifted down the air until it disappeared. "Juuuuust kidding! Hah hah... Hah."

As realization hit him, Nikolai slowly lowered his arm.

Mel had done her illusion again. He thought back to the fireplace from last night— it had caught him off-guard, even shocked him. That power was unheard of. And that had just been a imitation of a fire the size of a candle’s flame. Being able to make an illusion of a living thing that moved and seemed so real, even if it was just a bird, was even more astounding. Sure, he could sometimes do the same with a drawing, but those were a party trick at best, not something that was likely to deceive any viewer. What else could she do?

Nikolai was about to be amazed, but then he remembered he was a little disappointed too. Not in her, but that the bird he’d been excited about was just a trick of the light, literally.

“I see,” he said slowly, opening his gloved hand and letting the bread chunks fall to the snow. It wasn’t like they had any use for them now. Maybe a bird would flap along later and he’d get to indirectly help a real bird. “Right.”

He wanted to be a little upset, after spacing out because of that, but he realized he couldn’t. Despite her awkwardness in trying to make it look like a joke, Mel… was sorry. He could tell. And it wasn’t right to be annoyed at her for that when this wasn’t even that big a deal.

He probably wouldn’t have been that bothered by it if he was anybody else.

“It’s alright,” Nikolai said with a sigh. He turned around, the snow crunching under his boots. “Don’t worry about it. I say we keep moving.”

It was silly, but Mel felt a little heartbroken for Nikolai when she watched the bread crumbs slide out of his hand in disappointment. The defeat in his eyes hit her like a bag of bricks, and she silently swore to do no more tricky illusions on him, even if she thought they were harmless. Maybe she could surprise him with a real bird later, somehow? Gosh, he deserved it...

She was quiet for a moment, watching as he turned his back and solemnly requested to keep moving. Her brows were drawn together in concern, and Mel found herself quickly walking past him and the pile of snow to stop him in his tracks.

"Wait!" she said when in front of him, her gloved hands extended out. She sighed, biting back her pride. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pulled that trick on you. I thought it'd be funny, but you seemed sad the bird wasn't real. Maybe we can find real birds together later? No more tricks, I promise."

Nikolai blinked, freezing in his tracks. Both in the sense that he’d stopped moving when Mel had gotten in his way and that it felt rather chilly, of course.

And then after a few moments, the corner of his mouth moved up in a small, soft smile.

Nikolai could tell she really did feel bad-- and he did too, for making her feel guilty. Mel was a fun person, more enthusiastic and optimistic than almost anyone he knew, and he didn't like seeing the smile wiped off her face. It felt even worse to be the one responsible for it.

"It's all good, I promise," he said with a light sigh, and then followed it with a bit of a laugh. "Sorry, I might've taken that too seriously. I should let you have your fun, since it's going to be a long trip. Got to stay entertained, right?" Nikolai held out his gloved hand, offering her a handshake for some closure on the event. "I'm sorry I was being a little hard on you there. Is it okay if we move on and get a fresh start? There's probably some birds to be seen around here still, and the carriage will have some horses, so I bet you'd want to get to the village soon and see those."

Mel stared at Nikolai's extended hand, not liking that this whole thing was blown out of proportion. She wasn't blaming him at all, but boy did it seem like he was making it worse by making a whole thing of it. Mel wished Nikolai could just brush it off and laugh like her other friends, or maybe even sigh and roll his eyes and move on, but since he was making a whole thing of it, she was now determined to do so too.

Without answering him, she grabbed his hand and started to march forward through the snow with him in tow. "Come on!" she called with a confident grin as she looked over her shoulder. "Village, shmillage. We're going to find a real bird now, and we're not stopping until we do!"

Nikolai was a little surprised by what Mel had decided to do instead of shake his hand, but he shrugged, laughed, and went along with it. She seemed impatient, but also excited. If Victor were here, he probably would've told him to quit dragging his boots in the snow and get moving, just like her, although whatever plan he'd have come up with would have been more chaotic than just searching for a bird. He might've decided to keep any bird they came across and give it to Nikolai as a pet. Then again, Mel might decide to do that too. He wouldn't be too surprised.

The two of them were similar enough that having Mel here felt like some strange déjà vu, and it ached. Nikolai shook his head, deciding to push it away.

"Well, don't be too noisy," he said in a teasing tone, letting her drag him along. Their quick steps were kicking up more powdery snow, and it was starting to get on their pants, covering the fabric below the knee. "You'll scare them all off if you're not careful."

Mel laughed, not meaning to ignore Niko's warning, but there was something about running through the snowy woods to look for a bird that was so exciting. Yes, it was cold, and this place was still a wee bit depressing, but it was still bustling with life. Well, she hadn't seen any yet, but she was sure she would! ...Somewhere. There had to be a bird here, right?

"We'll be fine!" Mel reassured, glancing over her shoulder while still holding his hand and walking forward with him in tow. "Wait!"

She stopped in her tracks, realization seeping over her. Mel let go and whirled around, beaming with sunny eyes despite the cold reaching her cheeks.

"You said it'd scare the birds off, right?" she asked. "So that means we'll see them fly away? Well, why don't we yell and do that? That way we'll see birds for sure. Whuddya think?"

Nikolai paused to think before he answered. That could be a little mean to the birds, spooking them for no reason, but it would still be better than going around looking for them. That would take way too long. After all, they didn’t have forever, and the birds would be just fine. “Alright, sure!”

The two of them saw a small clearing ahead and stepped into it, so that they’d have a better view of the sky without pine tree branches blocking it. There weren’t any birds flying overhead, but hopefully they’d get lucky and there were some in trees nearby. Nikolai glanced at Mel. “Ready?”

They both shouted at the same time as loudly as they could, and then quickly went silent, waiting for something. It didn’t take very long. There was the soft sound of wings beating, and then a bird flapped above them, followed by a second one a few seconds later. The first one even landed on a branch in front of them for a moment, giving the two a look as it tilted its head to the side, maybe wondering what they were up to by disturbing the bird neighborhood peace. It chirped brightly, shaking out its small wings, and then fluttered off to somewhere out of sight.

“Hey, that worked nicely!” Nikolai said cheerfully. “Good thinking, Mel.”